In an article dated February 26, we asked the question: "With a third of women in the current Chamber, will the next Parliament have more women?” (see EUROPE 12202/8). The answer, is a cautious yes.
According to a preliminary count, the assembly in the ninth legislature will have 39% women, compared to 36% before, and 61% men. However, this information may still change slightly as it is based on data from 20 Member States. Not all Member States have officially communicated the names of the new MEPs to the European Parliament's administration; since they have until the day before the first plenary session, i.e. until 1 July, to do so.
In our February article, we recalled that after the 2014 European elections, only 36.9% of MEPs were women. This rate even decreased slightly in April 2018 to 36.2% and by that date (spring 2018), only seven out of 28 Member States – Croatia, France, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom – could claim a certain gender balance, that being between 40% and 60% of women MEPs.
As a general principle, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) recommends that the representation of women and men in bodies such as the European Parliament should not be less than 40%. This is also one of the objectives of the European Commission, which has committed to achieving a 40% rate of women among its senior and middle managers by 2020. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)